Satanic Temple Boston Complains After Denial of Satanic Invocation

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BOSTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - As of Wednesday, a fringe satanic group will not be invited to perform a prayer invocation at a Boston City Council meeting. The head of the Satanic Temple in Boston was turned down, even after alleging "religious oppression."

Satanic Temple Boston claims to be made up of "non-theistic" satanists.

The head of the Satanic Temple Boston, who identifies as Travis, complained in a letter Tuesday to the Boston City Council, writing, "Over the past year, the invited clergy performing these actions have been overwhelmingly Christian. As a member of a religious minority, I plead with you to consider allowing me to perform an invocation."

The Boston Globe hopped on the story, and ever since, the report has been gaining traction. The Globe spoke with Travis, who explained, "Our goal in this specific endeavor is to either receive equal religious protection from the city of Boston or to prove the inequity and hypocrisy of the city's leadership."

In response to Travis' clamoring, City Council President Michelle Wu reaffirmed the City Council is not discriminating against the group; rather, it is simply not recognized as a religion by the Council. "Each Councilor has the chance to invite two to three faith leaders per year to deliver the opening invocation at one of our Council meetings," Wu clarified. "The invitations are often used to recognize faith leaders who are active in the community and organizations that are representative of their districts."

The Boston Globe received criticism from Catholics for covering a seemingly insignificant story in light of other issues of national importance. C.J. Doyle, Executive Director of Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, wrote to the editor of The Globe. Referring to the anti-Catholic bigotry of the Clinton campaign, exposed via Wikileaks, Doyle commented:

The complaint by a fringe group of cultists — The Satanic Temple — that one of their number is not being invited to give an invocation before the Boston City Council, warranted an above the fold, page three story in the Metro section of today's Boston Globe. How can it be that the grievance of a small number of Satanists is more newsworthy than a series of attacks upon Catholics, who comprise, nearly, half the population of Massachusetts?

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